The unkindest cut of all: Jeremy Paxman wanted to talk about men’s bits, but Auntie wielded the knife

Woman’s Hour hits Paxo man where it hurts

HE may be fond of cutting off his interviewees in full flow, but for the liberal establishment of the BBC, Jeremy Paxman was planning a snip too far.

The Newsnight host walked away from his chance to present a one-off men’s edition of Radio 4’s Woman’s Hour after its producers winced at the thought of him presenting an item on male circumcision.

Woman’s Hour, Paxman argued, has frequently aired reports on the horrors of female circumcision in Africa. Why should he not present an item on the male equivalent? This was too much for the guardians of the BBC’s feminist bastion who decreed the item would not be “relevant”.

In his place they went for Jon Snow, the self-confessed “metrosexual” presenter of Channel 4 news. Snow happily conformed when he presented the New Year’s Eve men’s version with an item about what it was like to live in a mainly